The State

Three Salvadoran refugees in San Francisco went 24 days without food in a fast designed to protest U.S. policies toward Salvadorans seeking political asylum. Gilma Cruz, 22; Jose Cartagena, 26, and Jeremias Ruiz ended the fast Sunday at St. John’s Lutheran Church. “We are ending the fast with a strong call to the North American people to go (into) the streets and demonstrate against the war in El Salvador,” said Cartegena. The United States maintains that refugees from El Salvador are seeking economic opportunities, not fleeing political persecution. Only 3% of Salvadoran applicants are granted political asylum, compared with 54% of all other nationalities, said Carolina Castaneda, director of the Central American Refugee Center.